Finally arriving at the doors of the Castle Of Friendship, I'm ready to get out of these soaking wet clothes, get a warm shower, and get a good nights sleep.
I'm probably going to have to stop by the Carousal Boutique in the morning though to ask Rarity if she could make me some new clothes before I return to Canterlot, you know after almost getting shredded by those Timberwolves.
My first priority tonight though was to get out of my soaking wet clothes and to see if Twilight would be able to fix my glasses, because honestly I can barely tell at all where I'm going.
The only reason I haven't been tripping over and crashing into everything is because I've had Spike to help guide me.
The funny thing is, this is only my second time in the castle, the first time being maybe a week and a half ago. Spike opens the big doors to the castle and we walk in.
When we walk in I notice that Twilight is sitting on a rug, in front of the fireplace, while reading a book. The expression on her face isn't one of peace though, but worry.
I soon understand why though, when she whips her head around, her eyes landing on Spike, and her worry then turning to relief. "Spike!, thank goodness you're okay I was getti-" she stops, just now noticing me standing next to Spike.
She has a half surprised and half confused look on her face when she notices me. "Mark? What are you doing here? Not that It's a bad thing but I thought that you'd be in canterlot, resting, after, you know, the whole ordeal with the Timberwolves," she says.
I chuckle slightly at the surprised and confusion in her voice. "Sorry for dropping in unnanounced, Twi, but I just thought I could stop by and get a quick treat from Sugarcube Corner," I say. "Then I ended up running into Spike and it started raining, one thing led to another, and now I'm here.
She smiles and walks up to give me a hug, but I stop her before she can do so.
"You might want to hold off on the hug for right now," I say, directing her attention to my drenched self. "I was actually wondering If I could stay here for the night, you know, if it's not too much trouble."
She smiles and nods. "Of course you can Mark! I mean there's certainly more than enough room," she says, then gives me a stern stare. "But before any of that, you need to get out of those clothes and go take a hot shower before you catch a cold. You remember where the bathroom is, right?"
I nod but then frown slightly, remembering something important. "But these are the only pair of clothes I have with me right now, and it will take a while for these ones to dry," I say, but Twilight just smirks.
"Well it's a good thing Rarity gave me some more clothes for me to give to you when I visited Canterlot again," she says, levitating a white T-Shirt, Boxers, Socks, and a pair of Pajama Pants, which had a bunch of Tiny Box Tim's on them.
I smile to myself, and remind myself to remember to thank Rarity when I see her again.
Twilight startles me from my thoughts. "Now enough standing around waiting to catch a cold, go take a hot shower while I go and get a guest bedroom ready," she says in what she thinks is a stern voice, but the smile she has kind of betrays it.
I smirk and giver her a joking "Yes Mom" and "Okay Mom". I start to walk down one of the many hallways, which, if I remember correctly this one has a bathroom, when I remember another thing and turn around, taking my broken glasses out. "Also I was wondering if you would be able to fix my glasses," I say, holding them out to her.
She nods, taking the glasses from me with her magic, looking at the glasses with a thoughtful expression. "I think I might have a spell that would be able to help," She says and smiles. After giving her a quick thank you, I walk down the hallway.
As I'm walking towards the bathroom, I look around just now noticing how different the place looked from the last time when I visited this place. The once bare walls now were covered with pictures and designs. I decide to ask Twilight about this when I get done with my shower.
My inner monologue stops as I come upon the door to the bathroom, which had two large doors.
I push open the doors and stop as soon as I see the bathroom. The bathroom is a lot bigger than I remember, with the tub looking more like a small pool.
I whistle, shutting and locking the door behind me. After a couple of seconds of trying to figure out how the shower worked, I start to peel my drenched clothes off of me, setting them on a counter beside me.
I shiver, hurrying over to the shower and all but diving under the warm spray.
As soon as the spray hits me, funneling into the drain, I can feel tons of stress I didn't even know I had disappear along with it.
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After thoroughly washing and drying myself, I put on the clothes Rarity had made for me. After I'm all dressed I can't help but notice that these are a lot more comfortable then any of the clothes on Earth I usually wear.
I walk out of the bathroom, holding my shoes in one hand, and the towel I used to dry off containing the drenched clothes in the other hand.
As I step into the main room, I see Twilight sitting on the rug again, but this time she has her wing around Spike, who is leaning against her side. They both have mugs, Twilight's levitating in her magic, and Spike's in his hand.
They're quietly talking to each other about something, but it's too quiet for me to hear.
I set my shoes down next to the door quietly as to not disturb them, but they both look up, now noticing I had entered to room.
"Oh, hi, Mark," Twilight says. "Spike made us some Hot Chocolate, do you want some?" she asks me as I sit down in one of the many chairs in front of the Fireplace.
I grin. "Abso-frickin-lutely!" I say and Twilight lightly giggles, levitating a mug into my hands. "Thank's," I say taking a sip.
I instantly feel myself melting into the chair I'm sitting in, a dopey smile appearing on my face. This Hot Chocolate was fucking amazing, it's the best I've ever had, even better than Donut Joe's, I'll have to remember to ask Spike what the recipe to his Hot Chocolate is later.
Noticing the look on my face, Spike grins. "It's good, right?" he asks proudly.
I look at him. "Good? Spike, this is the best Hot Chocolate I've ever had!" I say with a smile. "You've got to tell me the recipe for making it!" I say.
Spike smiles guiltily. "Sorry, Mark, but this is my secret recipe, I've never told the recipe to anyone else," he says and I sigh, but then realize that this just makes it taste even better.
"He wouldn't even tell Rarity when she asked for it," Twilight says, grinning at Spike, who's blushing a little.
"That's okay that just makes this taste even better," I say smiling. "Oh, um, what should I do with my dirty clothes?" I ask.
Twilight levitates my dirty clothes over, with them still inside the towel, over to Spike, asking him if he could go and put them into the dryer.
As Spike leaves, I turn to Twilight. "So what's happened with you guys, during my time in Canterlot?" I ask.
Twilight gains a sad expression and sighs. "That's actually kind of a long story," she says.
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"So let me get this straight, you mean she could actually take the Cutie Marks off of ponies. How is that even possible?" I say.
Twilight had told me everything, from them finding the map that led to the village full of communist like ponies, to them meeting Starlight Glimmer for the first time.
Both Twilight and Spike, Spike having come back sometime during the story, just nod. "Apparently she believed that without Cutie Marks there wouldn't be any conflict," Twilight says.
I shake my head. "That's just not right," I say. "You know, we have a saying where I come from, 'Without Diversity there is no Unity'." I don't exactly remember who said that but it was someone brilliant.
"That's actually very wise," Twilight says with a fond smile.
"You know, this Starlight Glimmer sounds like a pretty powerful unicorn, aren't you worried she might try to get revenge or something?" I ask, concerned.
"Well...it's not out of the question that she might try to get revenge, but there's really no use in worrying about that right now because it will just keep us awake all night," she says. "It's getting pretty late, so maybe we can talk about this in the mor-" she cuts herself off with a yawn. " Excuse me. Morning," she finishes with a slight blush.
I just now realize that we've been talking for a little over an hour, I look to one of the clocks on the wall and realize that it's already 11:00 PM. "You're right it is getting pretty late, I think maybe we should all get some sleep before we end up snoozing on the floor," I say, with a yawn of my own.
Twilight gets up, while gently levitating Spike, who I now realize had fallen asleep, onto her back. "I'll show you where you'll be sleeping for the night," she says walking towards stairs that lead up to the next floor.
After walking for a few minutes, or trotting in Twilight's case, we arrive at a door that looks just a little smaller than the bathroom one.
"Well, I'm off to my own room now before I end up falling asleep on the floor. Goodnight Mark," Twilight says walking away, with Spike still snoozing on her back.
She suddenly stops. "Oh, I almost forgot," she levitates my now fixed glasses over to me
"Thanks Twilight, for everything" I say, taking the glasses and smiling at her.
Twilight stops a little ways away and turns her head in acknowledgement. "Anytime Mark," she says with a tired smile and continues to walk to her own room.
I watch after her for a few seconds to make sure she doesn't fall over from exhaustion. When she finally opens the door to her own room, I open mine and walk in.
I almost fall over, just now realizing how tired I actually am. I drag myself to the bed and slide in under the cover, almost instantly falling asleep.